Women As Leaders

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agile learning, Alexia Parks, Arshia Wasif Ahmed, EQs, Hardwired: The 10 Major Traits of Women Hardwired By Evolution That Can Save The World, International Women's Day, leadership traits in women, optimism, prioioritising

According to Alexia Parks, author of Hardwired: The 10 Major Traits of Women Hardwired By Evolution That Can Save The World, “Women are hardwired by evolution with the traits of being a great leader; they are naturally compassionate and have a more collaborative, mentor-oriented approach to leadership.”

The leadership traits that enable women to influence positive outcomes with maximum impact in the workplace include:

1. Women are optimistic. When confronted with less than ideal situations, women have a propensity to look for opportunities for improvement and growth, both personally and for the organisation. This ability to look at the glass as half-full rather than half-empty enables them to manage crises effectively and at the same time bring in operational and policy changes that add value to the business.

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Fall In Love With Your Job

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Cal Newport, how to love your job, improve the quality of your work, Invest time in your vocation, Learn to love what you do, quality, So Good They Can’t Ignore You

In his book So Good They Can’t Ignore You, Cal Newport has identified certain work practices you can employ to ensure that you stay motivated at your job and ignite a passion for it, even if it isn’t your dream career.

• Invest time in your vocation. Although talent is essential when it comes to succeeding in certain professions (no one can hit a one-handed backhand like Roger Federer no matter how much they try), working consistently at one place and working towards excelling at whatever it is that you do will eventually result in your being extraordinary at it.

The Monkey At Work

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Characteristics of people born in the year of the monkey, Chinese New YEar, Chinese New Year Year of the Monkey, How people who were born in the year of the monkey behave at work, Monkeys at work, Year of the Monkey

The Chinese New Year begins tomorrow, February 8, and it will be the Year of the Monkey. According to Chinese astrologers, the Year of the Monkey will be characterised by adventure and discovery for everyone, and it promises learning, change and progress.

If you were born in the Year of the Monkey (e.g. 1920, 1932, 1944, 1956, 1968, 1980, 1992 or 2004) or work with someone who was, then factor in the following:

– The Monkey is the most versatile sign of the Chinese zodiac. People born under this sign are usually inventors, entertainers and the geniuses behind anything innovative, even mischief. They are good with their hands, are dextrous with machines, possess technological intuition, and easily come to grips with new concepts. Their innate flexibility and versatility, coupled with enthusiasm, make them adaptive to different work environments.

HR Metrics For 2016

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Arshia Wasif Ahmed, Candidate Acceptance Rate, car, Diversity Percentage, DP, HR metrics, HR metrics to use in Pakistan, Incremental Revenue to Compensation Ratio, IRCR, Recruitment Response Time, RRT

Management experts in Pakistan believe that in 2016, HR Departments will be able to add even more strategic value to their organisations if they utilise the following HR metrics (tools that use concrete data to analyse and forecast workforce trends).

If you are an HR professional, here are four metrics you should think
about in 2016:

1. Candidate Acceptance Rate (CAR) is calculated by dividing the number of candidates who accepted job offers by the total number of formal job offers extended by an organisation. The higher the CAR, the more effective the HR Department has been in promoting the organisation as an employer of choice. If the CAR is substantially lower than the industry average, then you must investigate the reasons causing this and devise remedial strategies.

4 Questions For Effective Appraisals

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4 Questions For Effective Appraisals, effective appraisals, Evaluating employees every quarter instead of annually, Fauzia Kerai Khan, four questions to ask when appraising employees, ongoing feedback and coaching, replacing annual appraisals

Most employee performance reviews take place once a year and require managers to evaluate their subordinates on a battery of skills and their accomplishments from the preceding year. This practice is widely accepted as an essential and valuable tool throughout the business world.

However, the reality is that the traditional annual appraisals practised by a majority of organisations are fundamentally flawed. Research has shown that they are ineffective, unreliable and unsatisfactory and they can also be counterproductive. That is why leading organisations (including Accenture, Adobe, Deloitte and Microsoft) are replacing the annual evaluation cycle with ongoing feedback and coaching that focus on developing employees in the future given their current performance. This approach entails that at the end of every major project, or once a quarter (if employees have long-term assignments), managers or team leaders should answer the following four questions about their subordinates:

1. “Given what I know of this person’s performance, and if it were my money, would I award him/her the highest possible compensation increase and bonus?” This measures the employee’s overall performance and value to the organisation on a five-point scale ranging between ‘strongly agree’ (5) to ‘strongly disagree’ (1).

Succeeding At The Top

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challenges new managers face, Continuing to enhance skill-set, Dan Schawbel, Establishing authority, Learning to delegate, Mehreen Ahmed, Millennial Branding, overcoming challenges in the workplace, Promote Yourself: The New Rules for Career Success, Setting clear expectations

In his book Promote Yourself: The New Rules for Career Success (2015), Dan Schawbel, Managing Partner at Millennial Branding (a Gen Y research and management consulting firm), describes why newly promoted managers often hit performance roadblocks.

According to Schawbel, there are five common challenges which new managers face. Here are his solutions on how they can be overcome:

1. Setting clear expectations. Your first task as a new manager should be to call a departmental meeting. At the outset, present a clearly articulated business vision of ‘where’ you see the department in the next three to five years, while outlining ‘how’ to get there. Setting new performance standards and KPIs (Key Performance Indicators) and establishing SMART goals is crucial in ensuring effectiveness and efficiency.

Career Advice For New Graduates

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accepting a new job, career advancement, career advice for new graduates, Career development, developing talent, ethics, growth, Learning, Leon Menezes, new graduates, what new graduates should keep in mind when accepting their first job

A question I am often asked by new graduates (and even mid-level executives) regarding a job offer usually revolves around the expected paycheque. This is all the information they provide and expect profound advice on whether or not they should take it. However, if this is all you are taking into account when considering which company to join, then you have a very narrow view of things.

Now, you might think that a ‘broader view’ is one where you monetise all the perquisites and benefits and then make a comparison. Well, that still will not give you a complete picture. Then what should you be looking at?

First, an illustration to help us. If pay is the ‘largest room’ in the house, then the other rooms tend to be very small. Translation: many companies balance pay with a host of other opportunities (the Employee Value Proposition) that frankly, money cannot buy.

The Importance Of Independence

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achievement, Autonomy, creativity, Declaring Independence in the Workplace, Fauzia Kerai Khan, Harvard Business Review, high-trust environments, Independence, Independence Day, innovation, micromanaging employees, motivation, passion, Productivity

As Pakistan’s 69th Independence Day (August 14) approaches, a quick look at our workplace cultures reveals that line managers tend to micromanage their employees and make decisions for them. In the process, they take away freedom from their employees – something that they value most – instead of empowering them and allowing them to make decisions.

Since micro-managing employees is a common practice in Pakistani workplaces as it is globally, an article in the Harvard Business Review titled Declaring Independence in the Workplace is extremely relevant. According to the article, a large number of knowledge workers – professionals with talent, experience and drive – feel “stifled by managers who misunderstand what effective management means.” This is because in their misguided efforts to increase productivity and foster innovation, managers do more harm than good. They end up destroying both creativity and passion – key ingredients to the intrinsic motivation that leads to engagement at work – by limiting employee autonomy.

Maximise Your Employability With 4 Essential ‘Soft Skills’

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Arshia Wasif Ahmed, communication skills, Critical thinking, Interpersonal skills, National Association of Colleges and Employers, problem-solving skills, soft skills

In an increasingly competitive work environment, ‘soft skills’ (personal attributes that enable you to interact effectively with other people) are becoming increasingly more important than ‘hard skills’ (acquired theoretical and occupational knowledge) as far as hiring decisions are concerned.

A recent research study conducted by the National Association of Colleges and Employers (NACE) has identified four soft skills that you should acquire to maximise your employability. Therefore, if you are serious about landing that ‘dream job’, then make sure you highlight them in your resume and be ready to demonstrate them at a job interview.

Mum-Friendly Work Practices

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2Interchangeable sick leave, Child care, counselling services, Fauzia Kerai Khan, flexible timings, hours logged in, life satisfaction, motherhood role, on-site child care centre, paid sick leave, Reintegration periods, telecommute, work delivered, work-life balance, working mothers

Today, the number of mothers who work in Pakistan is greater than ever before. Yet, despite this, they continue to face tremendous challenges.

Not only are they often viewed as lacking the determination to move ahead, they may also be regarded as breaching social norms by failing to be ‘ideal mothers’ – that is, putting their work before their children.

Furthermore, working mothers’ contributions are generally undervalued because the barometer for productivity is hours logged in the office and not actual work delivered. However, working mothers work extra hard to meet deadlines because they have a very powerful motivation to do so – they want to make sure they can leave to have dinner ready, pick their children up from school/day care, manage their households and business goals.